Injury forces Dube out of U17 Challenge

A lower body injury will prevent Dillon Dube from playing for his country next month in Sarnia, Ont.

The Kelowna Rockets’ rookie centre will be sidelined for the next four to six weeks after being hurt in a collision on Saturday night against the Tri-City Americans.

Dube, who missed the start of the season with a different injury, has played in just two games for Kelowna in the 2014-15 WHL campaign.

The Cochrane, Alta. native, who was named this month to Canada’s Team White, will miss the World U17 Challenge from Nov. 2 to 8, an international tournament which features three Canadian teams, as well as the national teams from Slovakia, USA, Sweden, Russia and Finland.

“It’s unfortunate, it’s certainly been an unlucky start for Dillon,” said Rockets’ head coach Dan Lambert. “But at the same time, the injury could have been a lot worse so I think it’s something Dillon can also look at as a positive. I’m sure he’ll recover well and when he does, there should be other chances like this that come along for him.”

While Dube will remain at home to recuperate, Dan Lambert will head to Sarnia to serve in a coaching capacity at the World U17 Challenge. Lambert will be the head coach of Canada Team Red.

Rockets home to Brandon

The CHL’s No. 1-ranked Rockets will host the eight-ranked team on Saturday night when the Brandon Wheat Kings stop at Prospera Place. Face off is 7:05 p.m.

The Wheat Kings are 9-2-1-0 this season.

“They’re a powerhouse team from the east that scores a lot of goals, so we’ll have to be sound defensively to have success against them,” Lambert said.

Meanwhile, the Rockets are coming off a 4-0 victory over the Tri-City Americans on Wednesday night in Kelowna. The Rockets rebounded from their first loss of the WHL season on Saturday in Kennewick, Wash., a 5-2 setback against the same Americans.

Tyrell Goulbourne scored twice Jackson Whistle stopped 22 shots Wednesday for his second shutout of the season as the Rockets pushed their league-best record to 11-1-0.

“I thought the guys played a solid game, we were way more sound defensively and didn’t give up a lot of chances,” Lambert said. “We capitalized on our chances, so it was a pretty good effort all around.”

Next week, the Rockets will head to Portland for games against the Winterhawks on Thursday, Oct. 30 and Saturday, Nov. 1.